Kimi Antonelli takes back the top spot in the second practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
It was a boiling hot session at the Madring as the drivers try to get to grips with this brand new circuit. With a track temperature of 52 degrees there were tyre troubles, lock ups and plenty of brushes against the walls.
Early Laps
The drivers were immediately up to speed as we began FP2. Kimi Antonelli claimed top spot with a 1:33.926 within the first ten minutes with the Ferraris close behind once again.
The drivers reported the track was surprisingly grippy in FP1 but that was not the case in this session. Despite the track being more rubbered in, drivers struggled with rear grip.
The tyres seemed to struggle with such high energy and temperatures. Gabriel Bortoleto even reported he was almost crashing at every corner.
Technical Troubles
Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin broke down in the final moments of FP1 due to a clutch issue. This caused a lengthy repair and the driver missed the first half of the session as a result. The home hero finally hit the track with 34 minutes left in the session to try and make up the lost time.
Lando Norris’ McLaren also suffered issues with the gearbox. He reported that the car was finding a false neutral and headed into the pit lane. The issue resulted in a gearbox change and so he remained in the pit lane for the rest of the session.
This will surely affect the rest of his weekend as he’s missed almost the entire session while others gained crucial knowledge. Hopefully he can make up for the lost time in FP3 before qualifying tomorrow.
Red Flag
Arvid Lindblad was absolutely flying in this session and was in P4. The Racing Bulls driver had a seemingly unbeatable first sector of a 28.8. Just as he was about to improve that time further, he lost the rear at Turn 13. He lost control on the entry to the corner and ended up in the wall with 24 minutes remaining in the session.
Despite this crash, it was an encouraging season for the rookie as his pace was incredibly strong. Hopefully he can carry that pace into tomorrow.
Classification
It was Kimi Antonelli who took the top spot in this session with a 1:33.662. Charles Leclerc followed 0.113s behind and Lewis Hamilton 0.149s behind in P3. It looks like it may be another episode of Mercedes vs Ferrari in qualifying tomorrow.
It was a strong session for Racing Bulls despite Lindblad’s crash. Lindblad remained in P4 till the end of the session and only 0.228s behind P1. Yuki Tsunoda also had a strong session and finished in P8. This is a rather impressive job after he missed almost half of FP1 due to a steering issue and is still catching up.
Red Bull had a quiet but strong session as Max Vertsappen finished P6 just 0.401s off P1. Verstappen had some issues with track limits and had lap times deleted so there may be more pace in there if he can keep it on track. Lawson had a tougher session finished P10 and 1.276s behind. He reported again that he was struggling with the car and with low rear grip.
Formula One will return for tomorrow for FP3 at 12.30 track time.
Image Credit: Formula One X